Afghanistan’s delegation, led by Minister of Industry and Commerce Nooruddin Azizi, met with a Turkmen delegation headed by Director of the Agency for Transport and Communications Mammetkhan Chakiyev in Kabul on 26 April 2024. The meeting, held in Kabul, focused on strengthening trade and transportation cooperation between the two countries.
Leveraging their strategic locations, the sides discussed a broad range of initiatives to boost trade and connectivity, according to Afghan ministry for industry and commerce:
• Supporting Afghan exports through implementing preferential tariffs
• Facilitating increased exports of Afghan marble, limestone, stone cement, and other valuable mineral resources.
• Promoting broader trade cooperation between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan.
• Discussing opportunities for trilateral transit arrangements involving Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan.
The meeting emphasized the importance of infrastructure development:
• Establishing a large joint logistics center in Torghundi, a key border town between the two countries.
• Providing assistance for developing Afghanistan’s railway infrastructure.
• Exploring ways to facilitate the transportation of oil and gas from Turkmenistan to Afghanistan.
• Addressing issues of quarantine of Afghan export and transit goods
The importance of developing and strengthening banking relations between Afghanistan and Turkmenistan was highlighted, aiming to facilitate trade transactions.
Finding ways to reduce transportation and transit costs for goods moving between the two countries was another key point of discussion.
On the eve of bilateral meeting, the trilateral discussions held on the same day in Kabul involving Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, and Kazakhstan.